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I have a MacBook Pro2022 with Time Machine. My emails where deleted accidentally from my outlook mail inbox and I want to to know how to access the emails in Time Machine from an earlier back up and restore them to my inbox or other storage folder so I can access them.
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.4
Are you using the Outlook app on your Mac. Or, are you using Mail. tbirdvet's instructions are how to recover messages that were on Mail. If you are using Outlook, you would need to restore the Outlook files. I don't know where they are stored.
I always thought my MacBook Pro was the host and controlled what emails would deleted permanently from my inbox but not the case here at least not for this particular action.
That's not how IMAP email protocol works. The email server is the host. All changes on any device are made on the server and all connected devices reflect those changes.
Are you using the Outlook app on your Mac. Or, are you using Mail. tbirdvet's instructions are how to recover messages that were on Mail. If you are using Outlook, you would need to restore the Outlook files. I don't know where they are stored.
I always thought my MacBook Pro was the host and controlled what emails would deleted permanently from my inbox but not the case here at least not for this particular action.
That's not how IMAP email protocol works. The email server is the host. All changes on any device are made on the server and all connected devices reflect those changes.
Hello Roy's iPad,
Just to confirm, were the emails from that account deleted using the Apple Mail app? If so, please check out this link, which explains how to recover deleted emails, and how you can use the backups to restore content that Mail downloaded, which may help: Delete emails in Mail on Mac
View deleted emails
Whether you can view and retrieve messages after you delete them depends on how you set options in Mail settings.
1. In the Mail appon your Mac, choose Mail > Settings, then click Accounts.
2. Select an account, click Mailbox Behaviors, then check the setting for the Trash Mailbox option.
* If a mailbox is specified: You can view deleted messages in the Trash mailbox until they’re permanently erased. To retrieve a deleted message, drag it from the Trash mailbox to another mailbox.
* If None is specified: Deleted messages are removed and aren’t available in the Trash mailbox.
Permanently delete emails
In the Mail app
* Choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items, then choose an account.
* In the Mail sidebar, Control-click a Trash mailbox, then choose Erase Deleted Items.
You can set the “Erase deleted messages” option in Mail settings to have Mail permanently erase deleted messages for you at a specified time. See Change Mailbox Behaviors settings.
If you mistakenly delete messages, just drag them out of the Trash mailbox to another mailbox. Or select them in the Trash mailbox, then choose Message > Move to > [mailbox].
If you set up Time Machine to back up files on your Mac, you can use the backups to restore content that Mail downloaded (based on options set in Mail and on your Mac). See Restore items backed up with Time Machine.
Thanks!
To restore mailbox:
Open Finder
Click “GO” in top menu bar then click option key
Click on Library
Open mail folder
Open V9 or V10 (or similar) folder
Then find the folders labeled with cryptic titles (at this point you could open TM if you want to go back in time)
Look down through those folders to find a mailbox (note: there may be more than one with same label).
If it contains email you want you can copy the entire folder to your desktop
Go back into mail and import that folder from your desktop
HI Brittany. I was trying to clean up old emails on my iPad that had accumulated since 2016 no less. I always thought my MacBook Pro was the host and controlled what emails would deleted permanently from my inbox but not the case here at least not for this particular action. I wiped out my MacBook Pro and my PC. If i test with one email it works fine as my controlling host. So I am baffled. I dont believe I used Apple mail since I deleted gmails recieved in Outlook. Does this answer your question and if so does your suggested fix still apply?
HI tbirdvet. Thanks for your response. I selected July 25 as a point of recovery which is just prior to when the deletion occurred and went through all the emails but for some reason there were no gmail emails only apple and an abandoned email address with amtelecom. Not sure why it's not picking up my Google gmails.
RECOVERING LOST EMAILS FROM TIME MACHINE BACK INTO OUTLOOK MAIL INBOX FOLDER
